Bullsh*t.
Just damn.
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Posted on 01/14/2005 9:59:54 AM PST by Pikamax
Swearing In Chris Matthews on Dubya's big day
President George W. Bush will be inaugurated for a second term on Thursday. But before that big day, MSNBC's Chris Matthews — joined by NBC's Tom Brokaw — will look back at inaugurations past and what the ritual has told us about the men we choose to occupy the Oval Office. The special, Picking Our Presidents: Leaders and Legacies, airs Sunday at 9 pm/ET and again on Wednesday at 9. Matthews will also anchor MSNBC's live inauguration coverage on Jan. 20. Matthews told The Biz why we need to be there.
TV Guide Online: Why should we care about seeing the inauguration of a reelected president?
Chris Matthews: Because George Bush is as good as his word, and that is a nonpartisan, non-complicated statement. If you look at what he said in the first inauguration — references to weapons of mass destruction, commitments to Social Security and tax reductions — it ain't complicated. George Bush does what he says he's going to do.
You can argue that it's not sophisticated and it's not well-deliberated. But once he commits, whether it's Iraq or it's a tax cut or Social Security reform with personal accounts, he doesn't turn back. That's been true with the guy generally. I think when he says "you know where I stand," like he did at the convention last summer in New York, you do. I think that's his strength.
TVGO: What else did we learn about President Bush from his first inaugural?
Matthews: Bush is so interesting to look at. If you or I were elected president, we would go out and get a couple of decent dance lessons, just to get the two-step down. Bush was doing the Freddie. All he did was shift his weight back and forth and nobody said anything. He didn't dance and nobody seemed to care because he considers that as one of the things he doesn't care about. He didn't bother. But he takes the inaugural address seriously. When you sit down with it like a scroll and run through it — the guy was thinking about what he intended to do. It's an unusually good guide to a coming presidency.
TVGO: Therefore, we ought to be paying attention to it.
Matthews: I think we ought to sit down and diagram it. I think we should put numbers in front of the sentences, because I think whatever he says, he's going to do it. It's a particularly unsophisticated, uncomplicated presidency. It's a very plain and clear presidency.
TVGO: What's in the special with Tom Brokaw?
Matthews: He's a political junkie who really knows this stuff. And I'm a real junkie and I kept pushing him to find his depth and he kept going. Going back to the early '60s, you talk to him about any presidency and he can find new anecdotal stuff that livens up the history. He's very good at that. We go through each of the inaugural promises and which president delivered what they promised. We point out which were good inaugurals and which ones weren't quite so successful.
TVGO: Why do you think President Kennedy's inaugural is the most memorable of the 20th century?
Matthews: It's short, brisk, beautifully and poetically written. It has the most memorable lines that go right into granite — "Ask not what your country can do for you... " "A torch has been passed." Richard Nixon spent his career dying to say something that had that kind of power and he ended up with "I'm not a crook."
TVGO: What would you say was the worst inaugural?
Matthews: William Henry Harrison. His inaugural day was so bad that he died. 1841. He caught a cold waiting in the reviewing stand.
TVGO: That's pretty bad. I also wanted to ask you about what's going on with political talk at CNN. The new president, Jon Klein, has killed Crossfire and will probably cancel The Capital Gang. He seems to not like political debate shows, which he's called "white men shouting at each other."
Matthews: When Crossfire was first started 22 years ago, it was a political time when there was clearly a left and a right that made sense ideologically and you could find personalities that more or less fit the slots. Pat Buchanan in that day was a traditional conservative. Today you have neocons and everything else. And you had Michael Kinsley, who had this sophisticated, left-wing, liberal position. I think it fit the time. I was asked to do Crossfire 10 or 20 years ago. I said "I'm not going to [talk] on the left. I'm not on the left. That's not who I am. Maybe in Europe that will sound all right. But I'm not doing it as an American."
It also suggests that you're a hack because you've got to take these positions every night and you were told to take them, that was your job. That became the hack part of the show. Tucker Carlson's against the war in Iraq, but he had to be a defender of the war in Iraq. William F. Buckley's against the war. George Will is a major critic of the war. You can't just do this anymore where you just say left and right, it doesn't help.
TVGO: You think the shorthand has become irrelevant.
Matthews: I don't think it's honest either. I could oppose the war in Iraq from right or left arguments. With Crossfire, I don't think it's the debate; I think it's the way it's set up. The towel snapping — "I'm a Democrat, you're a Republican." That's something that's really bad for politics. When you get into the personal — "I don't expect that out of you" — that's hack talk. It became ESPN politics — either you care about the causes and the issues or you don't. I guess I side with Jon Stewart on this.
chrissy matthews....someone please name a bigger twerp
You read between the lines, and Bush is a simpleton. He's "unsophisticated". There are lots of subtle put-downs in this interview.
Biggest non-surprise in this piece? The greatest innauguration was Kennedy's. Why?
'Cause Kennedy was a frickin' GOD!!!!!!!!
spare me
They're gonna swear Chris Matthews in?!?!?
Well, based on this we can expect them to rip Reagan (who was at least as poetic and a far better speaker and leader than Kennedy) because he talked about smaller goverment and presided over a huge (dem congress) deficit. And since he didn't say "tear down this wall" in the inaugural it won't count for these dweebs.
As far as the death of Crossfire, CNN knows that the only salvation for dems is keeping them OFF the public airwaves!
There's no way to make them look sane these days, so they're in time-out until the campaign for '08 cranks up.
Bullsh*t.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
could we please find out how much the inaugurations cost - since there is such a fuss about post 9/11 security costs for this one?
thanks
Chrissy must have been overdosing on Prozak to have kept the bile in check as much as he did. It's THERE, but toned down a bit.
Why? Post 9/11 security fusses are the new status quo.
Sissy Chrissy's panties are in a bunch, once again. He and Morford need to quit shopping at Victoria's Secret.
Anyone who brings up security costs as an issue is a dumba$$, IMHO.Be compassionate, the lefties don't have a Democrat to inaugurate, so the poor creeps have to go back and revisit the few they did have.
TV GUIDE. Good spot for a really deep, sophisticated guy, who really knows his stuff, and, like, you know, stuff.
Chrissy Math-spews ping
Newdow
Thanks for the ping.
I've seen ads for Chrissy's interview with Brokaw. They choose to highlight Tom reminicsing wistfully about none other than Clinton's inauguration (the first one). Talk about sickening.
Now, what's this about Chrissy saying Tucker Carlson, Bill Buckley and George Will are against the war but defend it on tv, thus appear to be hacks?
"Baby Huey, the intellectually dense and stubborn duck lives in Duckville with his diminutive (in comparison) parents, Mama and Papa Duck. A very large duck, Huey hatched from his egg able to talk and fully-clothed (depending on which account you see, animated cartoon or comic book). The first appearance and origin of Huey is documented in St. John's "Casper, the Friendly Ghost" #1, in 1949." From "Meet Baby Huey" http://home.att.net/~thft/huey.htm
Ok, you asked for it.....
Not to mention that JFK was a plagiarist.
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